Last Call for 4.21.22 — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics

Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

The hits keep coming for Floridians who had homeowner insurance policies through Avatar Insurance.

The company, which carried about 37,000 policies, went into receivership in mid-February during the same week a couple of other troubled insurers — including the much larger St. Johns Insurance Company — bit the dust.

Its collapse left thousands of Floridians uninsured and potentially out of compliance with their mortgage lender. Avatar has since sent out refund checks to policyholders so they can snag a policy elsewhere.

But there’s a problem: The checks are bouncing. To add insult to injury, some ex-Avatar customers are getting hit with fees after the checks are rejected or even taking their personal accounts into the red after the bank claws back the deposit.

The situation is common enough that Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the country, announced last week it terminated its relationship with Avatar and would no longer process the refund checks. CFO Jimmy Patronis, whose department houses the Office of Insurance Regulation, was quick to alert people about BoA’s announcement, saying that the institution “is making things even worse” and vowing to help get bank fees reversed.

“If they have a valid claim, they will get their money, but it’s going to come from the guaranty association and that will take time,” Patronis said of Avatar customers.

“For any consumer that got charged an overdraft fee, keep those records. I will formally ask BoA CEO Brian Moynihan to cover any overdraft fees that resulted from their actions. The bank has trillions of dollars in assets and they market themselves as big believers in being good members of the community. I take them at face value and will work to make these consumers whole.” 

The bounced checks are representative of the instability in Florida’s property insurance market. Though the current Special Session on redistricting is wrapping up, Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to call them back to Tallahassee next month to try and hammer out legislation to stabilize the market, or at least slow down its tailspin.

What the Legislature’s product will look like is unclear — a potential fix floated in the Regular Session failed over concerns low- and fixed-income homeowners wouldn’t be able to afford the deductible to repair their roofs. And it’s likely many solutions would lead to more rate increases for homeowners in the short term.

Evening Reads

“Legislature approves Gov. Ron DeSantis’ controversial congressional redistricting map” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics

“Democrats stop debate in Florida House with protest over Gov. DeSantis’ congressional map” via Mary Ellen Klas and Ana Ceballos of the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times

“The extreme bias of Florida’s new congressional map” via Nathaniel Rakich of FiveThirtyEight

“Over protests, Florida House votes to abolish Disney World’s district and approve DeSantis’ map” via Jeffrey Schweers of the Orlando Sentinel

“GOP’s cozy ties with big business unravel as DeSantis unloads on Disney” via Todd C. Frankel of The Washington Post

“Florida’s water-board appointments show Critical Race Theory is no theory” via Craig Pittman of the Florida Phoenix

“How one Florida woman with Twitter problems plunged us into a nightmarish national conversation about ‘grooming’” via Ben Mathis-Lilley of Slate

“DeSantis’ war on Disney points to an ominous GOP future” via Greg Sargent of The Washington Post

“Don’t be ‘cruel’: Gov. DeSantis drags Joe Biden’s airline mask appeal” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics

“DeSantis to stump for Donald Trump-backed Nevada Senate candidate” by Max Greenwood of The Hill

“Nikki Fried announces rule setting 100% renewable energy goal for Florida” via Bruce Ritchie of POLITICO Florida 

“Netflix, facing reality check, vows to curb its profligate ways” via Joe Flint of The Wall Street Journal

Quote of the Day

“I’ve been kicked. I’ve been talked about, and I have been called names you don’t even put in the dictionary anymore. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, I fought for that. I’ve met Martin Luther King, I don’t just talk about him. He taught me peaceful protests, and here we are 2022 rolling back the tide.”

— Rep. Yvonne Hinson, protesting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ congressional map.

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